InsaneJournal

Title: I Left Behind Childish Things
Rating: B
Characters: Polly, Mal
A/N: Post-Monstrous Regiment. 200 words. Still unfunny.
Warning: Spoilers for Monstrous Regiment.


Polly noticed it first when a drunken slur died on the lips of a man as she turned her eyes on him. It was confirmed when another man, who had regularly slapped her bottom, long ago, showed no sign of recognition when she gave over her mare's reins to him. There was nothing left of the girl she once was. The girl was only her beginning.

There was blood on her, soaked into her skin, too deep to wash out. There were decisions she'd made that could not be forgotten, that scarred the landscapes of her memory, always there, gaping, accusing. She walked with heroes and murderers, slept with demons – indistinguishable, at times, from angels. Maladicta, white-skinned, soaring against the pale moon, blazing in the darkness, was like a mirror to her now. She loved things she'd once hated, desired what she'd once recoiled from. How had that happened?

High above her, Mal threw the dark coat over her face, disappeared into the darkness. The clouds were moving in. They would have a wet battle ahead of them tomorrow. Below, fires spotted the darkness, forming lines, theirs and ours.

She slept for a few hours, dreaming of ragdolls and crayons.